The U.S. Postal Service (USPS), experiencing plummeting mail volume due to the ongoing recession and increased use of online bill-paying and other transactions, just announced proposed rate changes that could increase the price of a first-class stamp by 2 cents to 46 cents, include an 8 percent rate hike for magazine publishers, and a 2 cent jump for postcards to 30 cents effective January 2011. The Postal Regulatory Commission must approve the recommended price changes.

Postmaster General John Potter said the rate increases would raise about $2.3 billion for the first nine months of 2011. He stressed this week that pricing is just one of a series of solutions the struggling agency is pursuing to become fiscally sound. With all of its cost-cutting measures so far, the USPS is still projecting a deficit of nearly $7 billion for the next fiscal year.

The Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers claims that the USPS delivery network is a system with the capacity to handle about 300 billion pieces of mail yet they only handle about 170 billion.